The head of the Japanese delegation at the Tokyo Olympics praised the performance of the host nation's athletes, saying Sunday that the 27 gold medals won came extremely close to attaining a bold objective set by the Japan Olympic Committee.
"They were able to come about as close as possible to our goal," Mitsugi Ogata, general manager of the Japan delegation, said at a JOC press conference in the Main Press Center. "It was an Olympics in which deep impressions were left in every sport."
The JOC had set a goal of winning 30 gold medals; the most Japan had previously won at an Olympics was 16, in 1964 and again in 2004.
Ogata cited as a reason for the success the Ajinomoto National Training Center, which opened in 2008. The center, located in Tokyo's Kita Ward, has served a training base for athletes in sports such as judo, wrestling and table tennis who performed well at the Tokyo Games.
"It showed the importance of continually striving to improve our top athletes," Ogata said. "We hope this carries over to the [2024] Paris and [2028] Los Angeles Olympics."
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